Run floor advice

[hairyarsedpea]

Hi.

I'm a newbie at this so gonna ask lots of questions to make sure I get things as good as possible for my birds.

I'm in the planning stage of building my coop and run. The coop part is sorted I'm happy with that.

The coop is going to have to entrances on to 2 separate part covered secured runs. One run is going to be straight onto grass area and will be about 12ft x 5ft.
The other entrance/ exit will be onto 1 foot raised decking of 8ft x 4ft which I will be covering ( I think!) with some untreated safe wood. This will drop down into a bit of grass 8ft x 2ft. Basically the coop will be in the middle with a run either side.
The reason for the decking part is that it is part of a larger decked area which I feel I can give up (but can't remove) for extra space for the birds.
I think I'm happy to go ahead soon with my plans but I'm unsure as to what to put on the decked/ wooded area? Do I just leave it wood or put sand, wood chip, straw on it? Obviously I live in the UK so it will get wet but it will run straight off into the garden.

The birds will have full use of the garden in the day time and be free to roam and forage at will I will be locking them up overnight because of local foxes and other predators. But I'm happy they will have a good amount of space still.

Any advice or thoughts gratefully received! And obviously if I've got part of my idea fundamentally wrong please point it out, I'd rather fix it now before I build it!

Thanks in advance

 

[Percheron chick]

The grass areas are too small to be of any value. You will have to keep them off and only graze it a few hours a week. I would just leave it open.

 

[hairyarsedpea]

The grass areas are too small to be of any value. You will have to keep them off and only graze it a few hours a week. I would just leave it open.

 

[hairyarsedpea]

The grass areas are too small to be of any value. You will have to keep them off and only graze it a few hours a week. I would just leave it open.

So you don't think it's even worth the grass run just for night time? My thoughts where that it would probably only get used a little last thing at night 1st thing in the morning then it would be shut off and they would be out and about.

Ok I'll have a think about whether it's worth bothering then.

Thanks

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

The grass areas are too small to be of any value. You will have to keep them off and only graze it a few hours a week. I would just leave it open.

x2 They will eat every blade of grass if it is a small area, leaving it totally dirt. If you want grass then you will have to keep them off it most of the time.

 

[Percheron chick]

The grass areas will be picked clean in less than a week. Just have one run. Covered at least partially is a good idea. It will enlarge their living area in bad weather and get them out of the coop.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

You can give them the grass clippings (make sure they are very very short to prevent impacted crop) and they will LOVE them.

 

[hairyarsedpea]

x2 They will eat every blade of grass if it is a small area, leaving it totally dirt. If you want grass then you will have to keep them off it most of the time.

Ok no probs. what about the decked area? Just leave it wood or do I cover with something like sand?

 

[BarbP]

I live in NE so I have to deal with mixed weather conditions throughout the year. I tried every kind of flooring from concrete, straw, wood chips. Each of these had its issues and cleaning was a pain. This year we bought a new coop and I put in coarse concrete sand, both inside the coop and in the run. so far I an beyond happy. Cleaning is a breeze and it always looks neat and clean. We will see how it does in the winter. I got my inspiration from the blog by "the Chicken Chick".

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote: They will cover it with poo. I am not sure how to advise.